Customs Studebaker 1953-55 Customs! Was there any cool ones??

Mad Mark, that smooth green Stude coupe you saw at Branson is owned by Liz Gerberding from Grand Island. Ne. Her hubby Gary Gerberding is the builder, Gary a vetern customizer who is a K.K.O.A. hall of famer has put together a lot of great customs in the Midwest. Her Stude is about the last car built when Gary had an active shop, he is retired these days and punching louvers and building car art sculptures and furniture pieces. Thanx for taking my bro to the Wally World for some new sparks, thay are super nice folks. ~sololobo~

 

I'm a model car builder and made the '53 Stude Torpedo based on the R&C magazine article. I thought you may like to see it. I noticed that the artist used a shortened wheelbase, so I used that of a Lark. So it's an altered.

 

Great thread, that green one and the scalloped red one are really neat!

Makes me wonder though, what size are these cars? Looks so small!

 

Actually, the wheelbase of a '53 Stude is a whopping 120.5", or nearly a half a foot longer than a '57 Chevy! The body, however, is really slim.

 

Okay, hows the inner space?

Ive done a little photochop tonight that I think turned out pretty sweet.. Makes me want to buy one that is for sale in Sweden but what do I do with my Pontiac if that happens?

 

That´s really neat for an old four door. Any idea how you´d tackle cutting that rear glass?

 

Here are the remains of one I chopped years ago. Rear window is inverted '50 Ford.

 

man thats a shame!! is it salvagable??

 

No idea, just messing around on the computer while I had nothing better to do.. Would look great though, think Ill swing by and look at the Stude tomorrow

 

Love these threads on the 53/55 Studes.Sort of a Stueaholic.IIRC,the curb weight was appx 3250lbs.And you guys and gals are right.They ARE perfect as they came off the assembly line.JMHO. My first car was a 53 Starlight Coupe.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

 

Let's just say it need$$$ work.

 

Of all the pics ,drawings, models etc posted here, I'd say maybe 2-3 are slight improvement on the stocker,and they don't deviate far from stock. The rest just made a beautiful car less so.
There is very little that the average guy can do to improve the appearance of a 53-54 Stude coupe. I wish people would stop screwing them up, there are not that many out there.

Just my 2 cents.

 

Here is one that runs on the Dry lakes and it is super fast. Someone told me in the early 60's that this design for the day was the best with the least wind resistance in a Wind Tunnel at Lockheed's Burbank facility. Even the mid 60's designs did get that kind of a rating. Leo Santucci did set world records with his old Studebaker using a Chevy inline six.
Normbc9

 

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^^^.What he said!...
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What happend to this one?

 

Lets wake this side up again

 

Anyone knows anything about this wild stude? Maybe someone got pictures from when is was finished long time ago?

 

I'm not much of a custom guy but I always liked this one.

 

That one is really cool

 

I believe Packard Hawks had fiberglass hoods.

 

This car looks to be a '53-'55 Studebaker two door sedan. Though it looks to have a small rear door, those two door sedans actually had a piece that sort of looks like this in the picture. Here is a stock one. The Champions looked like this picture, but the Commanders had a big piece of chrome trim that was designed to cover up the rear seam.

 

I've looked at this whole thread, and none of these guys can hold a candle to Raymond Loewy.

 

Here's a pic of the chrome you speak of on my 55' the day I bought it. Then a shot of my 55' after altering the wheelbase 12 1/2". Had to lose the bottom chrome piece after the wheelbase alteration. The two doors just had a panel a bit shorter welded in where the door would have been. Roofline and rear door were a bit longer on the four doors.

 

Don't know anything about it, but it was at the Fathers Day show at the Pomona (SoCal) Fair Grounds two or three years ago, for sale.
While there was a lot of work once done to it, it was sort of hideous looking.




Mike

 

I love the altered wheelbase sedan. Very nice.

 

My dad and uncle built this custom from a 53 Studebaker back in the fifties !!

 

Finaly.

The car i started this tread with was sold but i have known since then he also had a 55 Commander V8 in pieaces but the price was to high. But in October i got a fair price for it and a lot of parts. So time to get some 45cool stude pics up hear again?

 

This may be an old thread but I thought I would post this up. I was surfing CL this morning and I noticed this car came up for sale again in Tucson AZ.
https://tucson.craigslist.org/cto/d/1954-studebaker-2-door/6742396051.html

It seems the seller has no idea what he has. It is obviously someone's old attempt at a custom. I kind of like it. It takes the fish-face away from the '55 Stude. Not that I mind the looks of a '55, I own four of them after all.